The present invention relates to an apparatus for over the edge printing.
There is a long felt need in the field of printing equipment for an apparatus which can perform over the edge screen printing of objects in an efficient and cost effective manner. When over the edge printing is attempted using conventional screen printing equipment, the pattern or open portion of the screen, through which printing ink can pass, is configured so that it extends beyond the workpiece or object to be printed. This is done in order to accommodate the various tolerances which are present and which include the manufacturing tolerances of the workpiece as well as that of the printing screen, and the positioning tolerances of the workpiece with respect to the printing press. When ink is applied to the top surface of the printing screen and forced through the open portion thereof, the ink on those open portions of the screen which extend beyond the workpiece tend to coat the bottom surface of the screen and the support surface below. This results in unwanted smudging of the items being printed, with resultant waste of materials and loss of productive time.
Conventional expedients, such as extremely careful manufacture of the printing screens to ensure that the open areas line up exactly with the items being printed and also ensure that the printing screens do not extend over the edges of the items, are extremely costly and are not practical for volume production applications.